'96 328is Check Engine Light Clarification - United Bimmer Community

**foaxaca** · 03-29-2008, 03:55 PM

The Check Engine Light on my daughter's car just went on and she is 300 miles away so I am trying to do some long distance diagnosis. The vehicle is not exhibiting any obvious symptoms. She tells me that it is running normally. I am having her check gas, oil and radiator tank caps to make sure they are on properly. She mentioned that her windshield wiper fluid was low so I told her to add some just to make sure all fluids are OK. The car has the onboard computer and there is no error shown on that unit. I suggested that she take it to the local AutoZone and have the codes read. I understand that there may be two "Check Engine" lights on this car - one related to the service intervals and one related to engine/emissions functions. The image (which I can't attach to this post for some reason) shows the light in the row of lights along the bottom of the instrument cluster on.

**JetBlack328i** · 03-29-2008, 03:59 PM

does she have someone that can disconnect the battery for her? It should reset the light by doing so. Disconnect the battery and wait five min and then connect it again. Mine comes on before and thats what I did no more light

**peterkdenny** · 03-30-2008, 08:32 PM

go to autozone, they will tell you what it needs

**mullethunter3** · 04-01-2008, 11:38 AM

Or if AutoZone is retarded, she could always do the five stomp.

**foaxaca** · 05-01-2008, 10:29 PM

The CEL on my daughter's '96 328is went back on today. I took a previous poster's advice and went to AutoZone to get a code reader and they pulled one out from behind the counter and it had a long, rectangular adapter on the end, not a circular one the car requires. Pep Boys and Kragen's in my area do not loan out readers, only sell them. Any ideas?

**Dudesky** · 05-02-2008, 06:26 AM

^^^That's the correct plug. It attaches to a connector under the driver's side knee bolster. The round connector you're referring to is for resetting the oil and inspection lights, and has nothing to do with the CEL.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mullethunter3

Or if AutoZone is retarded, she could always do the five stomp.

The 5-stomp method is for OBD-I vehicles only and does not work on OBD-II vehicles.

**foaxaca** · 08-09-2008, 11:57 AM

For those of you in Calfornia, as of about 3 weeks ago Auto Zone has been prohibited from loaning out check engine light code readers to customers. It seems their competitors who charge for this service were able to get enough support from our legislatures and they passed a law that stopped the practice. Does anyone know of anyplace that rents them?

**delmarco** · 08-10-2008, 11:58 PM

If the CEL has been on and she is driving the car and she says it is okay then I wouldn't worry too much about it just yet.

The only two times my CEL came on for me and the car was still driving is listed below;

1)Air Mass Flow is failing. No biggie, just will get rough idle and a few stalls until it fails (you have about a month or so or about 500 to 1000 miles)

2)Oxygen Sensor is old and failing. Again no biggie. She will get poor gas milage-like 5 to 10 miles a gallon and the car will feel underpowered and backfire lots of black sooty smoke.

Also if she is driving a 1996 and up 3 series it can also be Failure in Air Emmissions Pump, which has nothing to do with driving (only when you start the engine, this pump works to aerate the engine for cleaner emissions) The failures are fairly becoming more common as the technology on later E36s age. She can still drive the car, but when she gets her car inspected next time, she will fail her inspection.

Those are the only things I can think of that would set of the CEL and you can still be driving the car

**foaxaca** · 08-11-2008, 05:18 PM

Fortunately, her car is not showing any of the symptoms that you describe so that must be a good sign. Tried disconnecting the battery for several minutes and reconnecting but that did not reset the light. It seems to not be getting the mileage is used to but maybe her driving habits have changed recently (more city driving and less freeway/longer distance). Certainly no smoke or stalling.